Brothers of the Spear

Brothers of the Spear was a comic book published between June 1972 and February 1976 for 18 issues, first by Gold Key and
finally by Whitman.

The Brothers of the Spear were Dan-El and Natongo, unrelated kings by right in their neighboring countries, whose thrones had been
usurped. They swore brotherhood and had adventures together. What was notable was that Dan-El was white, and his kingdom was that
of a lost white tribe in Africa (Aba-Zulu), while Natongo was black (from Tungelu). The first two years of the series dealt with
them winning back their thrones. By that time, they had individually gotten married. But even being kings and husbands, they
continued to have adventures together, many times with their wives.

The series was created by writer Gaylord Du Bois and artist Jesse Marsh in Dell's Tarzan #25 (1951), and ran continuously
through #156 (1966). Artist Russ Manning did some of his earliest comics work on this series, beginning in Tarzan #39
(Dec. 1952). The ending of the series was due in part to Russ Manning moving to take over Tarzan from Marsh in #154. New stories
would appear in #160 and 161 (by Manning), and later in #202 and #203 (by Mike Royer).

While DC Comics licensed the rights to Tarzan in 1972, the Brothers of the Spear title remained with Gold Key.
Whitman Comics published only issue #18 in May 1982, with reprinted material. Du Bois wrote the series beginning with issue #2.
Jesse Santos did the artwork for the first twelve issues, followed by Dan Spiegle.